Study Notes &Chapter Summary

​Activity 1: Photo Analysis "A Picture is Worth 1000 Words"

​1. Students will work in a small group setting to review the pictures hyperlinked to the left.2. Begin by playing detective, investigate what you think is happening in each photo3. Answer page 3 of the packet hyperlinked to the left4. Read page 19 and discuss5. If any time if left over you can research Pearl Harbor and Island Hopping in the Pacific

​Activity 2: WWII Aircrafts

1. Visit this site on the German Messerschmitt, after you are done reading, create a chart that explains some of the key features of the Messerschmitt2, Create your own Messerschmitt by clicking here3. Visit this site on the American P51 Mustang, after you done reading, create a chart that explains some of the key features of the Mustang4. Visit this site on the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Reisen, create a chart that explains some of the key features of the "Zero"5. If there is any time remaining, you can research the website linked to the picture on the left

​Activity 4: The United States at War

1. Read pages 808-813 in the America Book2. watch the video: "WWII From Space" (only up to the 20:30 mark)3. create a poem, rap, or song about the attack on Pearl Harbor (minimum 3 stanzas)4. If any time remains, visit the site hyperlinked to the left and do free research

​Activity 7: America The Story of US (World War II)

​Activity 8: "A Day Which Will Live In Infamy" by FDR

​1. Watch Video 1: FDR's Pearl Harbor Speech and then annonate the text version of the speech​2. How does technology effect emotion and perceptions? Compare the primary footage listed in step 1 with the movie version of the same speech by clicking here​3. Discuss at your table which version made you feel more connected to the event and why, be specific and in depth4. Answer Worksheet on Pearl Harbor

Activity 10: The Holocaust

1. Visit the USHMM website and read through the main pagesSelect one of the following videos2. Watch the video "One Day in Auschwitz" (only up to the 20:50 mark)3. Watch the video "A Walk Through Auschwitz" (I am not linking due to content after 9:30, please have parents watch first on youtube and determine if they wish you to see the video or not, the first 9:30 is ok without parent view)4. Watch the video "Hitler's Final Solution"5. Regardless of which video you selected, write me a minimum one paragraph journal entry about what you saw and learned.

​Additional Learnings

Operation Barbarossa

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany and its Axis allies began a massive invasion of the Soviet Union named Operation Barbarossa -- some 4.5 million troops launched a surprise attack deployed from German-controlled Poland, Finland, and Romania.

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The Battle of Midway​The Americans had surprise on their side, and luck. On June 4, they discovered the Japanese fleet northeast of Midway. An air battle quickly developed. The turning point came at mid-morning. The Japanese fighters were drawn down to sea level by attacking American torpedo bombers, the vast majority of which were destroyed. Their sacrifice cleared the skies above for the American dive-bombers. Within minutes three Japanese carriers were ablaze.

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The Battle of Britain

Day after day the Germans sent armadas of bombers and fighters over England hoping to lure the RAF into battle and annihilate the defenders. Day after day the RAF scrambled their pilots into the sky to do battle often three, four or five times a day. Britain's air defense bent but did not break. By September, the Germans lost enthusiasm for the assault. Hitler postponed and then canceled invasion plans, turning his attention to the defeat of Russia. In appreciation of the RAF pilots' heroic effort, Winston Churchill declared: "Never before in human history was so much owed by so many to so few."

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The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis

The heavy cruiser Indianapolis steamed out of San Francisco Bay just after dawn on July 16 wrapped in a heavy cloak of secrecy. In her belly, she carried the atomic bomb that three weeks later would be dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. She raced, unescorted, to the island of Tinian where she unloaded her lethal cargo on July 26. Her mission accomplished, the Indianapolis then began a journey into Hell that would end with the worst naval disaster in U.S. history.

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Iwo Jima

At approximately 10:20 a.m., the flag was hoisted on a steel pipe above the island. The sight of the small American flag flying from atop Mount Suribachi thrilled men all over the island. And for the first time during WWII, an American flag was flying above what was considered traditional Japanese territory. This symbol of victory sent a wave of strength to the battle-weary fighting men below, and struck a further mental blow against the island's defenders.

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2nd Battle of El Alamein

Second Battle of El Alamein was a turning point in the North African campaign. It ended the long fight for the Western Desert, and was the only great land battle won by the British and Commonwealth forces without direct American participation. The victory also persuaded the French to start cooperating in the North African campaign.

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​The Invasion of Normandy

On June 6, 1944, a date known ever since as D-Day, a mighty armada crossed a narrow strip of sea from England to Normandy, France, and cracked the Nazi grip on western Europe.

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The Bataan Death March

The Japanese immediately began to march some 76,000 prisoners (12,000 Americans, the remainder Filipinos) northward into captivity along a route of death. When three American officers escaped a year later, the world learned of the unspeakable atrocities suffered along the 60-mile journey that became known as the Bataan Death March.

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The Battle of the Bulge

By late 1944, Germany was unmistakably losing the war. The Soviet Red Army was closing in on the Eastern front, while strategic Allied bombing was wreaking havoc on German cities. The Italian peninsula had been captured and liberated, and the Allied armies were advancing rapidly through France from west to east. Therefore, Adolph Hitler knew that the end was near if something could not be done to slow the Allies' advance

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The Battle of Berlin

The final chapter in the destruction of Hitler's Third Reich began on April 16, 1945 when Stalin unleashed the brutal power of 20 armies, 6,300 tanks and 8,500 aircraft with the objective of crushing German resistance and capturing Berlin.

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PBS: America and the Holocaust

In 1937, a 17-year-old German Jew named Kurt Klein emigrated to the US to escape the growing discrimination against Jews that had become a terrible fact of life following Hitler's rise in 1933. Together with his brother and sister, who had emigrated previously, Klein worked to establish himself so that he could obtain safe passage for his parents out of Germany. America and the Holocaust uses the moving tale of Klein's struggles against a wall of bureaucracy to free his parents to explore the complex social and political factors that led the American government to turn its back on the plight of the Jews.

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History Channel: The Holocaust

The word “Holocaust,” from the Greek words “holos” (whole) and “kaustos” (burned), was historically used to describe a sacrificial offering burned on an altar. Since 1945, the word has taken on a new and horrible meaning: the mass murder of some 6 million European Jews by the German Nazi regime during the Second World War. To the anti-Semitic Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Jews were an inferior race, an alien threat to German racial purity and community. After years of Nazi rule in Germany, during which Jews were consistently persecuted, Hitler’s “final solution”–now known as the Holocaust–came to fruition under the cover of world war, with mass killing centers constructed in the concentration camps of occupied Poland.

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PBS: WWII in color

WWII in Color is made up of a large WWII photograph collection of over 31,000 images which have been viewed over 60 million times in total over the last few years.

​Maps and Photos

Blank Map of Europe

Europe Under Nazi Control

Key People of WWII

Key People Organizer

Events By Year

1939

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

Notes

Timeline - Basic

Battles - Basic

Political Systems c. 1940

WWII Alliances

The Nuremberg Trials

Josef Mengele - The Angel of Death

Suggested Learnings

WWII: Japanese Expansion

Research the major goals and characteristics of Japanese foreign policy in the 1930s to analyze the threat Japanese militarism posed to peace in the Pacific region. You'll summarize what you learn to answer this focus question: How did Japanese expansion threaten regional stability in the Pacific?

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WWII: By the Numbers Charting D-DayOrganizing and interpreting data is an important skill when analyzing historical events. Raw data are the building blocks for interpreting what happened in the past, what is going on in the present, and what may occur in the future. The following lesson plan asks students to create three types of graphs using statistics from D-Day and World War II and then analyze their results by answering interpretive questions

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Dr. Suess and WWII Political Cartoons

Dr. Seuss is the beloved author of more than 50 children’s books. But many students do not know that he drew over 400 political cartoons during WWII. These cartoons tackled such subjects as racism and discrimination, the dangers of isolationism, fascism, and other political issues, and the vital work of the war effort at home.

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​WWII: The Japanese Internment

​Explore the history of Japanese immigrants to America and the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor to answer this question: Should the government place Japanese Americans living on the West Coast in internment camps? You'll take a position and defend it with evidence from primary source documents.

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​WWII: Holocaust and Hiroshima

Examine one of two central issues from World War II that challenge our view of human nature and our expectations of the future: the Holocaust and the use of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. You'll compose a series of free-response journal entries that reflect on the moral and historical issues.

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FDR Speech: A Day of Infamy

The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, shocked the nation and led to a declaration of war by the United States against Japan the following day. In asking for this declaration, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave a monumental address to Congress and the American people. He knew that this speech would be one of the most important in American history. It is widely known as the “Day of Infamy” speech and is replayed numerous times every year on the anniversary of the attack. However, the word “infamy” was not in the original draft of Roosevelt’s speech. He inserted it in place of the words “world history.” The change in tone that resulted has helped this speech remain one of the most famous in American history.

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​Hitler's Final Gamble: Comparing Totalitarianism to Democracy

When Adolf Hitler set in motion World War II, he was gambling that his Nazi government and society could produce soldiers and citizens tougher than those of Great Britain, France and the United States. Totalitarian fanaticism and discipline, he thought, would always conquer democratic liberalism and softness. He was wrong. What was it about democracy that allowed the Allies to win the war?

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Those Were The Days Activity

Those were the days, my friend. A loaf of bread cost 9 cents, a new car $920. This sounds great, but what was a dollar really worth? This cross-curricular activity, in which students calculate and discuss price changes over time, combines history, economics, and math. They will find some interesting surprises here. ​

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WWII: The Home Front

Explore a historical narrative that presents key people, events, and issues related to this focus question: How did the U.S. mobilize at home to fight World War II and how did that experience change American society? Test your knowledge by answering practice, quiz, and application questions.